A foray into the heart of social nerdiness

On The Importance of Defining Your Character Early, Part One

Now, in addition to being a DM, I’m also a sort of newbish roleplayer as well. So maybe I’m entirely off base with this. But I feel the need to write on this while I still remember, and before NaNaWriMo starts to devour all of my free time today. It’s easy to roll a character, decide what skills you want him or her to have, and start playing. It’s harder for me to make that character fun to play. What has worked for me in the past is to pick one defining trait for the character early on, don’t tell anybody else about it, and do my best to reveal that trait to the other players. This worked out well for my current character, Bimbi, the halfling paladin. Okay, I admit I was trying to make a slightly over-the-top character with her. But above all the ridiculous of a halfling (named Bimbi, not bimbo, thank you very much) follower of Kord, I decided Bimbi would really, really like fighting and really like her axe. That’s not to say that Bimbi hates people, she’s very friendly, but Bimbi never, ever backs away from a brawl if she can help it. Furthermore, she’s traveling with Pentaros, an Eladrin warlord. So I also, for good measure, decided that she followed him everywhere, kind of like a lost kitten. Even knowing two very basic things about her, and how she would react in certain situations, gave me a good starting point for the character. It’s also the stuff comedic and dramatic gold are made out of. But that will be for part two. Don’t worry, I’m going to finish describing the events of Murder, Most Foul, but real life interferes with me writing more than about 250 words at a time. So, I figure more consistent, bite-sized updates are better than radio silence from me. Until next time, folks.